Camera systems for acquiring the front or rear surroundings of a motor vehicle which are arranged on the inside of the windshield or rear window of the motor vehicle, are known from the prior art and are being used increasingly in assistance systems of modern motor vehicles for measuring and determining the surroundings of the motor vehicle. Such assistance systems are, for example, adaptive speed control systems, also referred to as ACC systems, lane changing assistants, precrash systems, parking systems or combinations of the systems, the listing being merely by way of example.
In order to obtain depth information in a simple way from the data of the surroundings of a camera system, use is made of stereo camera systems from the stereo images of which it is possible to derive depth information, and thereby complete 3D coordinates of the surroundings of the vehicle.
Thus, printed publication US 2005/0030378 A1 discloses a camera apparatus for detecting persons or objects in the front surroundings of a motor vehicle, comprising a stereo recording device having at least two imaging sensors and an evaluation unit for reconstructing the three-dimensional surroundings of the motor vehicle from the data of the imaging sensors. In this case, the imaging sensors can be swiveled about a rotation axis in order also to be able to observe lateral areas of the motor vehicle surroundings. In the case of two imaging sensors, the viewing cones of the two sensors also overlap in a forward direction, while the overlap in the lateral direction increases.
Likewise, printed publication DE 101 64 516 A1 discloses a stereo camera system having at least two video cameras for generating a panoramic image of the area behind the vehicle, the video cameras being assigned fixedly to one another in space and arranged directly near to one another. The two video cameras are in this case accommodated in a suitable housing, the outer shape of the housing being a function of the video cameras and of the installation space.
Furthermore, printed publication DE 20 2010 002 827 U1 discloses a camera monitoring device having two cameras arranged in a housing for the purpose of respectively acquiring images of the rear area behind a vehicle, the housing having a housing window. In this case, one camera is directed to the ground during reversing operation in order to monitor the nearby area, while the other camera monitors the rear far off region in a horizontal direction.
Given an arrangement of a stereo camera system having two cameras on the windshield of a motor vehicle, the camera system is arranged in a housing at the level of the interior rear-view mirror, the two cameras seeing through the windshield in a respective viewing cone. In this case, the camera-specific viewing cones are directed substantially horizontally or slightly inclined to the pavement. The penetration of a viewing cone of a camera through the windshield forms a trapeze-shaped cut surface inside the windshield. In order to avoid disturbances of the recorded images, caused for example by reflections at the windshield, the area outside the two trapeze-shaped cut surfaces is covered. This covering is effected by printing black appropriate areas of the windshield outside the trapeze-shaped cut surfaces, and by internally covering the stereo system with suitable geometric dimensions.
As the driver sees it, the view around the covering is disturbing. Thus, for example, the perceptibility of traffic lights to the side on the edge of the road is reduced, since the driver must change his head posture, and thus the direction of view, such that he looks past the covering, as it were.